stars, sex and nudity buzz : 10/12/2012 [2]

Cinemax series Transporter premiered on German telly yesterday.It's known as Transporter : Die Serie there and from the look of the first episode it promises plenty of nudity.

First up was Canadian actress Rachel Skarsten. It's her first nude scene ever on-cam at age of 27. Rachel was nervous about her first nude show that she went on a diet and kept the news from her tight-knit conservative family. As a result she lost way too much weight and loved ones are going to be supremely surprised with her decision to go nude. The family turn to Christianity after the death of the patriarch. They knew this day was coming the moment Rachel informed family of her intention to forge a career in acting. She was adamant against on-screen nudity but finally gave in as most actress does when career stagnants especially if you're in Canada and refused to relocate to L.A for proper crack at the biz. I trust her family will understand what Rachel does on screen will never interfere with her faith off it. Rachel was liberalized enough to allow a man to squeeze her side boobs. I e-mailed Rachel congratulating for her 'boldness' on the Transporter few months ago. She did not reply but never mind...her tits did all the talking.

(thanks to Jack Snow and ultronico_splinder for the original links)

Transporter : Die Serie - Teaser [HD]

Chris Vance on Challenges and Rewards of Taking 'Transporter' to TVThe small-screen version of the action film franchise premiered to 4 million viewers on German TV on Thursday.

COLOGNE, Germany – British actor Chris Vance says it was a “schoolboy's dream” to play the lead in Transporter, the TV version of Luc Besson's action film franchise whose three films have grossed more than $200 million worldwide and made lead Jason Statham a star.

"You get to drive the fast cars, get in all the fights, get all the beautiful women,” Vance told THR on his character in the12-part Transporter TV series, in which the Prison Break star reprises Statham's role as Frank Martin, an ex-elite commando turned transporter of dangerous and deadly packages.

But if playing Frank Martin seemed a boyhood dream come true, the actual Transporter production became more of a nightmare, with extensive delays, production and budget battles and a severe on-set injury that put Vance in the hospital last October and put the Transporter shoot on hold for months.Things were further complicated by Transporter's unique set-up. Made outside the network series system, the big-budget show was made as a co-production between Atlantique Productions in France and Canadian operation QVF with four national broadcasters on board: HBO Cinemax in the U.S., HBO in Canada, RTL Television in Germany and France's M6.

"We had a decent budget so the actual shoot wasn't much different than a network shoot,” Vance explained, “the big difference with this kind of international co-production is you have a lot more people involved in the decision making. You have the broadcasters in the different countries – all from different cultural backgrounds, with different markets and different needs - and they all have their own opinions. It took a long time to get everyone agreed on what we were shooting here. I mean the Transporter is really in the sweet spot of the action genre. You can't mess with it.”

Viewers in North America will be able to judge whether Transporter's producer collective got it right early next year, when the series debuts on HBO Cinemax and HBO in Canada.

European audiences have the first say, however. The series pilot premiered on Germany's RTL Thursday night, drawing an impressive 4.01 million total viewers for a 17 per cent share of the 14-49 demographic. Those aren't blowout figures for RTL - Germany's leading commercial network - but should prove sufficient if the show can hold – or better build on - its initial audience. France's M6 bows the show in primetime next month.

Because of Transporter's complex financing structure, the series has to work in all four of its backing countries to guarantee a second season.

The eyes of the international industry are on Transporter, the most ambitious of a slew of new English-language drama series partially or entirely financed outside the U.S.. These series – such as Atlantique's Parisian cop procedural Jo starring Jean Reno and Jill Hennessy; Tom Fontana's British-Canadian-U.S. period drama Copper or Crossing Lines, a European-style Criminal Minds from Germany's Tandem Communications, France's TF1 and Sony Pictures Television International – were the buzz of international TV market MIPCOM in Cannes, which wrapped up Thursday.

"If it works, if the channels can make money with these series, I think you will see this model being used more and more,” Vance said. “It’s becoming harder to finance television because, frankly, the audience expects more – so to get the budget you need, you have to find ways to spread the risk. It just makes sense to do shows this way. As long as you can make them work for the audience.”

Initially, at least, Transporter seems to have worked for the German audience. The coming months will tell whether the ambitious action series works as well worldwide.

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Mary Elizabeth Winstead Discusses Why She Took on 'Smashed': "I wasn't feeling good about what I was doing."

by Nigel M Smith

Over the course of her relatively short career (she's only 27), Mary Elizabeth Winstead has turned in a string of solid supporting turns in films that never really merited her talents ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," anyone?). That changes this Friday with the release of her Sundance hit, "Smashed."

In the indie drama, Winstead finally takes the lead in a performance that's been earning awards buzz since its debut earlier this year in Park City. Directed by James Ponsoldt, "Smashed" centers on Kate (Winstead), a married elementary school teacher, who also happens to be an alcholic. The film charts her road to recovery (while her husband, played by Aaron Paul, watches on from the sidelines), following an incident at her school that forces her to lie to her superior.

"It's one thing for an actor to convey drunkenness by merely stumbling around the set and slurring words," wrote Eric Kohn of her performance in his review of "Smashed." "Winstead does more than that. Her eyes are always darting forward, not quite there, searching for clarity about the world that constantly eludes her. The character is a mess of arms and legs jutting forward, sometimes enraged, elsewhere grasping for the correct response to each barrier placed in front of her. Like the onscreen alcoholics before her, she makes the case that this particular disease exists within the nuances of behavior."

Indiewire sat down with Winstead in New York to discuss the breakthrough performance, her Sundance experience, and what she makes of all the industry chatter.

You're from Salt Lake City. Sundance must have been quite the homecoming for you.

Yeah. I grew up in Sandy, which was kind of just outside Salt Lake City. So that was always a big dream of mine, to go to Sundance. I would go as a teenager and just kind of walk around and look at the outside of the theater and stuff, when people were there for the festival. And it was always just a huge, huge goal of mine to have a film there, so that was big. I remember getting the call that we had gotten into Sundance and I was just screaming and jumping all around my house. It was a very big deal. It's just such a weird, emotional thing. When the opening credits came on I was already crying. I cried through the whole film and cried through the Q-and-A. I was kind of a mess.

What was it like to go to Park City with this film in particular? The film features what is, no doubt, your toughest performance yet.

It was huge, because it was such a personal film for me. Figuring out how to play the character and sort of going through that was very personal. Showing it to the world you feel like you're showing everybody your diary or something. It's kind of an emotional thing, so yeah, it was a big deal. And just hearing the audience respond to it the way that they did -- because I had no idea if people would like it as much as I did -- was a huge deal. There were people who had actually been through AA or people who were in recovery that stood up and who were like, "You just told my story on screen." That was huge.

Did you feel like you had to prove something in taking "Smashed" on?

I felt like I had to prove something to myself, because I think like a lot of actors I sat around for years and years going, "Man! If I could just get that role that showcases what I could do, then everything would change." But I was so complacent about it. I wasn't really doing anything to make sure that happened. So by the time this time in my career rolled around, I was ready to just go out there and do it for myself. It wasn't really about showcasing something for other people anymore. It was just to the point where I wasn't feeling good about what I was doing. Not that I wasn't happy to have the jobs that I had, and the work that I had -- I was very grateful and happy to do it -- but I wasn't feeling like I was stretching as an actor, or growing as a person, so I felt like I needed to do something just for myself. Just to prove that I could stretch beyond my perceived limitations.

And what gave you the confidence that you could do it?

Oh my god...Taking it on was really scary. Once I read the script, I was like, "I gotta get this part! This is the thing I need to do." And then when I got it, it was really scary, because I actually had no idea if I could do it or not. I really didn't. So, just working with James, and having him be so open to my ideas -- he was a total collaborator with me on everything and that really made me feel like he trusted me. He trusted my ideas, that they were good ideas. And I had so much faith in him as a director and the fact that he had faith in me made me feel like, "OK, if he's putting his trust in me, it must be for a reason. I'm just gonna kind of trust my instincts and go with it." And, yeah, the fact that I did it, and that I was happy with the outcome has boosted my confidence a lot.

Did you have to audition for the role, or did he just offer it to you?

I did. I did a tape. I sent in a tape of just a bunch of different scenes from the film. And I was very lucky, because I was the only person they saw for it, and they just sort of hired me off of that, which was an incredible thing. I was very prepared to be put through the wringer. Because any time I've auditioned for a big role in a film, it's like, they want you to audition, and come back in different wardrobe, and come back again like this, and come back and read with this person and this person. And they do it like eight times before they realize that, "Oh, never mind. You're not right for the part." So I was much more expecting something like that.

Especially with a role of this nature. I can imagine so many actresses vying for the part.

Of course! I still can't believe that they didn't sort of say, "Well, she's good, but let's just make sure we cover our bases and see what else is out there." They just went, "We like her. Let's do it. Let's make a movie with her."

There are so many challenging aspects to the role, but no doubt the most diffcult must have been playing drunk. How did you pull that part of the role off?

Yeah. It's scary. And when I did it for the audition, luckily I did it well enough that I was able to get hired off of it. But I still didn't feel like it was quite right.

Did you take any shots prior to shooting the tape?

I didn't. I can't even remember what I did for the audition. I acted drunk, which, you know, I guess I approximated it well enough to get the part. But it still wasn't quite where it needed to be for me to do the film. So James had read this book called "The Power of the Actor," by Ivana Chubbuck -- who's this great acting teacher in LA -- and one of the chapters in the book is about playing drunk. So she has some really great exercises for it. So we really just kind of relied on those acting techniques to do it. I'm just really lucky that it turned out well. Because it's just so so easy to screw up.

What was the one that worked best for you? I interviewed Isla Fisher for "Bachelorette" and she said that Kirsten Dunst recommends standing in a spot and spinning.

Yeah. I did that, too. Her exercises are almost kind of like hypnosis, like, you close your eyes and you take yourself through every single step of what it feels like to be drunk, starting with taking the first sip of alcohol. And you can't skip anything. You have to go through every little detail. And then once you've gone through it, you open your eyes and you feel very off balance. Very loose and kind of buzzed a little bit. It's just sort of like a mind game that you play with yourself.

And then on top of it, to stay in it, I would do physical things like that. I would spin around in circles. I would look at the ground and spin in circles all day long. Or I would just do crazy things like roll around on the ground and jump up and do kung fu moves. I just wanted to feel sort of insane, you know? Just feel like when you're really drunk and you just do ridiculous things for no reason. I would just do stuff like that. And Aaron and I would do stuff like that together in between takes. We'd be on the ground wrestling each other and hitting each other -- acting like seven-year-olds, basically.

About you and Aaron -- you two have amazing chemistry in the film. What did you two do to get to there together?

Well we didn't have a lot of time, which was kind of scary going into it, because you want to bring a history, and so ideally I think we would have spent a lot more time together leading up to it, but we actually didn't have that. So we got together one night before we started shooting -- and James was actually our designated driver -- and we went out drinking together, because we wanted to sort of forge that bond and get that dynamic going of what this couple is like when they're drunk together, and what we're like when we're drunk together. And it was only our second time meeting, but we got sort of plastered (laughs).

Method acting.

Yeah, it was just one night of it, and then we were able to sort of set that aside and just act the rest of it. But it was a good way to sort of break down all the boundaries of getting to know a person because we saw each other at our worst right off the bat. I think we immediately felt pretty close after that and we were able to just kind of go into it open, like, we are this couple, we're gonna sort of be there for each other as actors and be open to anything at all times. I think we both went into it with that same mindset and it helped us make it very real to us.

Since "Smashed" played at Sundance, you've been courting this amazing wealth of buzz. Has it had an effect on your career? Do casting directors see you differently?

I think it's slowing shifting. People are slowly seeing the movie, but not everyone has seen it yet. I mean my hope is that a lot of young filmmakers will see it and be inspired to make more films like this and, you know, will want to work with me, because that's really who I want to work with -- kind of new interesting people who are forging their own vision and want to sort of go on their own road in this industry. That was why I took this film to begin with, was to try and get in that world. I feel like the industry is sort of changing and there's got to be a sort of revolution happening, and I want to be a part of that. I'd like to do a lot more small, performance focused films.

I know it seems silly to even talk about it, but what do you make of the Oscar talk surrounding your performance?

It's so funny. I mean it's fantastic. I think it's beyond what any of us expected or were thinking about when we made the film. I mean, certainly for me, when I did it, I wasn't really thinking about my career much at all. What I did think was, "Well maybe I'll finally start doing indie films." So that was really all I expected to come from it. Or, "Maybe I'll actually get to be at Sundance." Never in a million years did I think it would get Oscar buzz or anything like that. That's so far away and above what I imagined. At this point it's already better than anything I could have hoped for, so I'm just gonna have a good time. Just having that word uttered is an amazing thing. I'll take that.

* It's a good thing MEW is trying to move away from horror genre. The girl is talented and a latecomer to indie scene considering it took her nearly a decade to see the light and dwindling film offers (taking on cameo roles just for the sake of quick money in A Good Day to Die Hard and A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III). Again the age factor plays a part. The 27-years old actress recently confirmed she dropped her nudity clause and open to roles that will stretch her acting chops even if it requires nudity. It's not outside the realm of plausibility MEW could reward her fans with a nude scene in 2013. Just a gut feeling. MEW should be alum at Mr.Skin site by now. She was worked on relentlessly by late director George Hickenlooper attempting to persuade MEW to show her billibongs in Factory Girl (2006). But then 22-years old who was playing Andy Warhol's supposed favorite muse Ingrid Superstar kept on refusing even after George asserts it will be shown only on unrated director's cut. But ultimately her decision was the right one. Her part was small and the topless scene would been gratuitous and pointless.

Sex Surrogates and the Virgins Who Love ThemThe Sundance Film Festival is known for discovering young directors, such as Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Thomas Anderson. This year, the fest’s big discovery was a 66-year-old Australian named Ben Lewin. His film, “The Sessions”—formerly known as “The Surrogate”—sparked a bidding war at after it premiered at Sundance in January and wound up getting picked up by Fox Searchlight for $6 million, a hefty sum for a movie that cost about $900,000 to make.

Mr. Lewin, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, producer Judi Levine, has made several indie films, a few documentaries and directed episodes of television shows like the ’90s hit “Ally McBeal.” Although some of his work has garnered acclaim on the indie circuit, Mr. Lewin says “at some point, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was a fringe filmmaker, not a mainstream success.”

That will likely change on Oct. 19, when “The Sessions” hits movie theaters. The film, which centers on the relationship between a sex therapist (Helen Hunt) and a severely disabled client (John Hawkes) who wants to lose his virginity at the age of 38, has been generating Oscar buzz all year. After the movie screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, NPR’s Monkey See blog called it “the most lighthearted movie about sex and polio you’ll see this year.” (We’d argue that it’s the most lighthearted movie about sex and polio you’ll see ever.)

Mr. Lewin himself had polio as a child—he walks with crutches as a result—and his other films have been comedies. Some of the funniest moments in “The Sessions,” based on the true story of poet/journalist Mark O’Brien, who spent most of his life confined to an iron lung, emerged from Mr. Lewin’s struggles to depict the erotic encounters without “the cringe factor,” he says. Instead of showing O’Brien having sex, he invented the character of Father Brendan, a witty-yet-hippie-dippy Catholic priest (William H. Macy), to whom O’Brien would recount his escapades in elaborately scintillating detail. “The most explicit stuff didn’t happen on the screen—it happened in the confessional—and that automatically made it funny,” says Mr. Lewin, who sat down with Speakeasy in Toronto to discuss the movie, his career, and his unusual suspenders.Read the rest here

1. Marnie is the Charlotte

Marnie wears boot cut jeans, blouses and pearls, has a long-term boyfriend, a great blow-dry and you guessed it, works in an art gallery. We told you, she's the Charlotte.

2. She's the girl with the shiny white teeth

The first time we see Marnieshe crawls out of the bed she shared with her flatmate Hannah, takes her teeth whitening piece out of her mouth and puts it in her uber needy boyfriend's hand. He replies: "Aww, is that a present? Is that for me?"This is the perfect introduction to Marnie - the girl with the perfect white teeth who constantly puts down her puppy dog boyfriend.

3. Marnie lives with Hannah

Marnie and Hannah are flatmates, and one of our fave scenes with the pair is when they dance out all of their worries to Robyn On My Own.

4. Marnie has the long-term needy boyfriend (who she can't stand).

Marnie is the girl who dumps her boyfriend during make up sex. She has a puppy dog boyfriend who hangs on her every word. She loathes him, but of course she can't live without him - her expressions when he tries to touch her tell all.

5. Allison Williams' famous connections

Allison is the daughter of NBS news anchor Brian Williams, who is best friends with HBO CEO Richard Plepler. Anyone predict a sparkling TV career?Tina Fey is also a family friend and Allison interned for her on the set of Baby Mama. According to Fey her duties included doing karaoke in the trailer with her.

6. The sex scenes

Marnie isn't naked as much as her pal Hannah, but she does have a scene where she masturbates in a bathroom at a party. Yep, this isthe gritty Sex and the City.

7. She has played Kate Middleton

Allison wrote and starred in the Funny Or Die Sketches, Will and Kate before Happily Ever After. If you couldn't guess by the blow-dried curls, Allison played the part of Duchess Kate.

8. Allison gratuated in 2010

Allison graduated from Yale in 2010. While at university she was a member of an improv comedy group Just Add Water for four years.

9. Allison got picked to star in Girls by a YouTube video

Allison is a YouTube discovery. She sang a self-produced version of Mad Men which producer Judd Apatow saw and then decided she would be perfect to play Marnie.A cover of Ke$ha's Tik Tok she uploaded onto YouTube when she was at Yale had over 5 million views.

10. Marnie is the honest friend

Marnie is the brutally honest friend who continually tells Hannah she is a brat and fat, with jibes such as "no wonder you don't have any friends pre-university."

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The Newsby Luke ShanahanThe multi award winning short film about true love that has screened at over 40 international festivals.Daniel and Gina meet at the cafe where they first met, each armed with exciting, "news".

The French actress, who plays seductress Severine in Skyfall, bares her boobs in the X-rated romp. Wearing a short bright red wig and heavy mascara, she's shown kissing her co-star before they have sex in front of a mirror.

Breast in show ... actress bared her breasts in the role, for a French medical drama

In other clips the lucky man's hands grope her bare breasts and bum. The scene is taken from French medical TV drama Équipe médicale d'urgence (Emergency Medical Team).

Bérénice , 33, landed a recurring role in the show in 2010, playing a character called Alexia - and she didn't waste any time showing why she's one of the hottest new talents in Hollywood.

X-rated ... co-star gropes her naked body

Soon after her raunchy role, the actress was spotted by Bond bosses and cast alongside Daniel Craig in the newest 007 film. And Bérénice's character Severine gets straight to work on the MI6 man, using her feminine wiles to lure him in the sack.

Kisses ... Bérénice plays Severine in Skyfall

In a tantalising Skyfall trailer we see the pair flirting outrageously during a casino scene. She's also shown warning Bond about her dastardly employer, played by Javier Bardem.

Co-star ... Bérénice acting alongside Daniel Craig in Skyfall

We'll have to wait until the film hits cinemas on October 26 to see more of the pair in action.